Once Upon A Wood--A Goldstone Tribute

Once Upon A Time......there was a young girl who needed a good book. She loved beautiful things and she had a tender but particular soul that made finding good books a difficult task. Still she searched high and low, and one day while searching through a library, she remembered a book whose cover had caught her eye. But despite that it had an ominous (but cool) title (HEARTLESS!!!!) and was deep within the "adult" section (HORROR)....she gained the permission of her mother to venture into the new world within the pages. 

And such a world she found. A world where the character's heartbeat could be felt pulsing in the letters, hear their breath in the flutter of the pages. Characters so real and their tales so potent that they consumed her waking thoughts and sprang to new life under her artistic pen. She loved how the characters strove to be noble and good, and that even though they failed many times, they found redemption from the love of a pure and powerful Prince.

Better still, there was a Queen who wielded that world, and as the young girl and many more wandered into that Wood, she welcomed them with love and friendship. Those who loved the Wood soon became friends, some of them very close and would go on to find each other in the other world they left behind. Each year, the Queen gave the gift of hosting contests where the wanderers of the wood could display their art of the tales and write out imagined tales of their own. There were some who she took under her wing to teach the power of words and the wisdom, patience, and dedication it took to wield them well. 

As the years passed, the tales grew in size and they also grew more serious and sometimes darker, but the readers were ready, for they had matured with and through the world as well. They knew that Hope was their lamp in the deepest darkness. They knew that dragons could be saved if they were brave and humble enough to trust the power of the Dragonslayer. They knew life could await beyond the Final Water. 

But in the mortal realm, some things do not always go as we wish. Life is not always what we expect. New tales are silent for now, for the Queen's own kingdom has grown and she must see it cared for. Someday, perhaps, she will return. 

Yet even if not, the Tales of Goldstone Wood...like the mysterious Wood itself.....are timeless, and a wanderer may venture in at any time and find themselves on a journey such as they have never known, and what they learn there may guide them to a Path greater than it had been before.